11/27/2024
“The unpleasant truth about BMI and why it’s a poor standard by which to measure our health begins in 1832, with a Belgian mathematician called Adolphe Quetelet.
He loved the idea that we could learn useful things by measuring populations, and was fascinated by the idea of the average man.
For him, though, this meant the ideal or average man in an aesthetic sense, an idea associated with Leonardo Da Vinci’s depiction of the ‘Vitruvian Man.’
It’s important to know that, for Quetelet, this was an academic and artistic exercise; he wasn’t commenting on health at all.”
Yet ‘Quetelet’s index’, which he developed during this time is now known as the body mass index, or BMI.
It’s not evidence-based, kind, respectful, or reflective of someone’s health.
And we should refuse to allow outdated practitioners to use it as a way of judging and shaming us, or of sending us down pathways that are not conducive to our health, or to the outcomes we desire.
These words are quoted from my book: Plus Size Pregnancy: what the evidence really says about higher BMI and birth.
Find out more, so you can make the decisions that are right for you, at Senni Lipponen I would suggest that people educate themselves on the actual evidence re size, shape, pregnancy and birth - and health more widely - before even considering questions relating to risk and what we need to change. If you’re interested in doing that, there are several articles and a book relating to this which you can see at www.sarawickham.com/plus-size-pregnancy 😊
